The first stanza is actually part of Samuel Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' a story of a man condemned to wander - I believe endlessly - after killing an albatross and thereby bringing death to his shipmates as a result of a curse. (The albatross is considered a bird of good omen to sailors, and killing one is generally a Bad IdeaTM.) The bit that everyone knows comes when the Mariner is floating alone in the wreckage of the boat on the ocean, parched with thirst while surrounded by the undrinkable ocean.

Water, water, everywhereAnd all the boards did shrink.Water, water, everywhereAnd nary a drop to drink.

It brings to mind utter hopelessness, when the seeming salvation that is just within reach is actually the last thing in the world that you really need. In a sleep-dep sort of way, it shares that imagery with Richard Cory:

WHENEVER Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was richŚyes, richer than a king, And admirably schooled in every grace: In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head.